On the podcast this week, I’m thrilled to introduce you to Wendy Zanders.

Wendy is a successful professional organizer and her story fascinates me. She has done things in almost the exact opposite order to how I’d normally recommend, but it has worked well and I couldn’t be happier for her. Her story just goes to show that there are many different routes to success and we must all follow the path that feels right for us.

Wendy discovered me when she was suffering from depression

Wendy found me and the Organize 365 blog and podcast during the most depressing time of her life. Her family had suffered the loss of a dear family member and she was really struggling. She actually connected with me when she heard me share my depression story, as her experiences felt so similar to mine.

Wendy shares on the podcast how she joined my Jumpstart Professional Organizer Program (a one-time offering this past summer). The program was for people wanting to start a professional organizer business. She then joined my Sunday Basket™ Workshop Licensing Program, and later she joined my 100 Day Home Organization Program. This is pretty much the exact opposite order that you would expect!

A little more about Wendy

Wendy is 35, lives in Frederick, Maryland, and she has a husband, a 4 year old daughter, a 10 year old son, and a new business. She is in between the accumulation and survival phases of life. Her life is pretty busy, with non-stop family commitments, business commitments, and church commitments. Wendy and her husband both work full-time, and they very much divide and conquer when it comes to running the family and household.

Earlier this year, Wendy decided that she wanted to get a part-time job on the weekend to help build up the family emergency fund. She was given the advice to find something she loves to do and then do it as a business. Like me, Wendy LOVES being organized and helping others get organized. Becoming a professional organizer seemed like the perfect choice!

Wendy and I first spoke in May of this year. After asking me plenty of great questions, she decided to join my Jumpstart Professional Organizer Program. Thankfully, her husband was behind her 100%, something that is always a huge help for the women who take my program.

Wendy is also a member of my Professional Organizers Think Tank Facebook Group. She explains on the podcast how being a member of the group really took things to another level for her, being able to connect with other like-minded professional organizers on the same journey as her has been invaluable.

She works on her professional organization business on Friday nights and Saturday. Wendy had a goal to earn back the program fee within 7 months and she did so within 3 months!

Becoming a professional organizer despite having ADD

Wendy shares on the podcast that she has attention deficit disorder, something that you wouldn’t always associate with a professional organizer.

Wendy was not diagnosed with ADD until later in life. It was actually the point at which her son was being tested for ADHD that she realized she had many of the symptoms herself.

Wendy becoming a successful professional organizer... with ADD... really does mean that if you have a passion to do something, then go out there and do it!

Marketing can be the biggest challenge

One of Wendy’s key strengths is marketing her business.

Being a professional organizer means meeting and connecting with many people. Therefore, marketing efforts that lead to the most results are often those conducted in person.

Wendy is a superstar when it comes to marketing her business and on the podcast she shares the many ways that she’s doing this.

Become a Sunday Basket™ Workshop Licensed Provider

Would you like to become a Sunday Basket™ Workshop licensee like Wendy? Would you like to help people in your local area get their paperwork organized? This is a first step before joining my mentoring program for professional organizers.

Finally (because I’m so excited about it!), I want to share that Wendy and I are both going toBizChix Live in October which is going to be AMAZING. If you want to learn more about the event please, click here.

There is nothing more frustrating than nervously watching a tragedy unfold before your eyes and feel like there is nothing you can do to help. The hours I have spent the last month reading articles, watching video clips, and following friends on social media who are going through natural disasters is mind blowing.

This nervous energy eats me alive. I want to DO something.

Ironically in Cincinnati, Ohio, we have very few natural disasters. A stray tornado or big snow storm, but nothing like the fires, earthquakes, and hurricanes I 've watched in the last month.

Even so, emergencies in general are a guarantee in life. Someday you will need to have your medical and financial ducks in a row to facilitate your care or the care of a loved one.

This week in the podcast, Betsy shares her Houston Hurricane story, and I share how you can organize your important documents and help the autistic community at the Avondale House School in Houston, Texas.

The Avondale House is a resource for the special needs community in Houston and a school for children with autism.

The financial and medical organizers are editable PDFs so you can store your information digitally or they can be printed and put in a binder – it's your choice!

These organizers collect all your important information so you don't have to hunt through your filing cabinet or wish you could take the whole thing with you if you have to evacuate. This will really help you in an emergency situation, whatever that situation may be.

100% of the proceeds from sales of my medical and financial planners will go to Avondale House. This is a "win-win" situation as you get these two great organizers AND you get to donate to such a great cause.

If you would prefer to not purchase the planners, but would rather donate directly to Avondale House, you can do so here.

One thing you will never hear me say is, "It 's just stuff." I know better.

Physical items can be replaced, but it does not minimize the pain and inconvenience of doing so. I hope you are reading this in a house with running water, a working sewage system, and electricity

Like I said in the podcast, my own medical and financial organizers were not filled out, but I am doing it now.

I don't want to, and I don 't "have the time," but I know... one day I will be glad I did.

In this week’s podcast, I dive into my afternoon and my evening routine.

Afternoon Routine

When I talk about an afternoon routine, I am referring to the time of day when we are transitioning from work responsibilities back to our family responsibilities.

Personally, my afternoon routine is currently going through changes as my children are getting older and are no longer relying on me for rides home from school and to their various activities. As such, I find myself with more time to work in the afternoon.

For quite some time, my work day ended at 2pm when I left to pick up the kids. If I’d done my work for the day by 2pm, that was a good day. Any work that I got completed after 2pm was what I called "bonus" work!

As the kids have gotten older and more self-reliant, I have been able to carry on with work, if needed, from 3:15pm (when I get home from picking them up) until 5:30pm. Yes, I do work a lot! If I don’t have work to do at this time, I sometimes take a nap.

This year, I have help with my kids' school pick up and my son will be driving, which means my work day will be 8am to 5pm.

Whether your work day ends at 2pm, at 5pm, or whenever, here is one daily routine I recommend you follow during the last 20 minutes of your work day:

Tidy Up – Take a few minutes to organize your work space. Coming in the next day to a tidy area will get you into the right mindset.

Calendar – Look at your calendar for the next day and get an idea of what you currently have scheduled.

To-Do List – Go over the list of goals you have set for the week and figure out which items need to be completed the next day.

Write It Down – On either an index card or a legal pad, write down your tasks for the next day in the order you need to complete them. Remember to always TRUST the schedule you made the day before! The impromptu coffee run sounds good in the moment, but your rational mind says otherwise.

Following this afternoon routine today will set you up for a successful tomorrow.

Then, 5:30pm to 7:30pm is the time I have set aside to spend with my husband and kids, but I also have time set aside to do other important things for myself.

Here are some of the things that I like to do as part of my afternoon routine after I've spent valuable time with my family:

Clean the Kitchen – I like to ensure everything is clean and put away in the kitchen. (This is a new addition for me this year.)

Plan Dinners – Take a few minutes and decide what to make for dinner the next day. This saves you from scrambling to figure it out the next afternoon.

Pack the Car – Look at the schedule you made for the next day and place anything you need for tomorrow in the car. For example, dry cleaning that needs to be dropped off.

That is my afternoon routine and I think it’s the key to my productivity.

Evening Routine

From 7:30pm to 9pm, everyone in my family likes to enjoy some alone time.

I tend to head upstairs to my office and continue working. But, the work that I do at this time is work that I really enjoy doing and nothing too heavy.

At 9pm, I start my bath and pick my clothes out for the next day. I try to keep my wardrobe pretty simple. Capsule wardrobes really interest me and I’m going to dive deeper into that idea in the fall.

Around 9:30pm, Greg and I watch a TV show. (You’ll need to listen to the podcast if you want to hear me run through my favorite programs right now!)

No matter which small tasks you add to your evening routine to help the next day run smoother, make sure to take time to RELAX.

Remember, at the end of the day, it isn’t about what you didn’t accomplish that day, it’s about what you DID accomplish and how you impacted the people around you.

In this week’s podcast episode, I talk all about productivity and morning routines.

You’ll discover why my morning routine is different than everyone else’s and why I make no apologies for that!

Two years ago, I recorded a podcast episode where I talked all about my morning and evening routines at that time. If you would like to hear it, click here.

In that episode, I focused on decision fatigue and how setting up routines that you can run on auto-pilot will minimize the number of decisions you need to make. It's amazing the difference a well-planned morning routine can make!

This week’s episode continues to build on that topic with a focus on productivity.

I love productivity.

I’m a productivity nut. If there is any way that I can save 5 seconds a day, I’ll figure it out and I’ll save those 5 seconds, whether I put them to good use or not!

Wasting time is one of my biggest pet peeves. So, I love to study how to be more productive.

However, just recently I noticed that the majority of the productivity gurus that I have been following – those with podcasts, books, blogs, etc. on productivity – are all men.

I’ve tried to change this and seek out female leaders in the productivity field, but they are hard to find.

Even though I am a very productive person, it’s hard not to feel like I’m not as productive as I could be when comparing myself to someone so different than me. There are many differences between the productivity schedule of a man and a woman. There are also key differences between the schedule of a Gen X and Gen Y person. There are HUGE differences between the productivity schedule of people with and without kids!

Many of the male gurus I have been listening to want you to get up early (before 5am), have an ice cold shower, exercise, meditate… this is not for me. I've tried aspects of it. I even found myself in the gym at 6am…it DID NOT work out well for me!

I realized, I was comparing myself to people with such different lives, goals, and challenges than mine.

We all strive for balance.

As women, we are always trying to seek balance in our lives. But you know what… balance is boring!

We can’t perfectly balance everything and if we do – if there is complete balance and not one single thing that gets more of you because you’re so passionate about it – where is the fun in that?!

Think of it like a cookie. First, we all like/need different ingredients in our cookies. The base ingredients are often similar, but the rest varies, whether that’s chocolate, raisins, gluten free, soy free, etc., just like we all have different things going on in our life.

Second, whatever those ingredients are, they are not required in equal proportions. That would not make for a good cookie!

Third, there is no perfect cookie for all. We are all different and unique!

You need to know WHO you are taking productivity and morning routine advice from.

The productivity routine of the modern woman covers 7 items:

Household

Cleaning

Shopping

Work - paid or unpaid

Self Care

Spouse (optional)

Kids (optional)

They may not all be applicable to everyone. For example, I know not everyone has a spouse or kids. Personally, I opted out of number 2 and have a housekeeper!

My point is that you need to know who you are, what phase of life you’re in, when you like to wake up, what your expectations are for yourself and work. When you are clear on all of that, you can work out the best morning routine for you.

My morning routine.

I define my morning routine as from the time I wake up until when I start the productive part of my day. For me that is a 5:45-6am wake-up until around 9-10am when I get to work.

I wake up with enough time to get up, get ready, and get in the car to take my kids to school. I’m on auto-pilot with my routine so much so that I don’t need to think about it. Refer to this episode and also this one to learn about my make-up caddy.

It’s almost impossible for me to forget anything with the way that I’ve organized this. In this week’s episode, I talk you through in detail exactly what I do, what I eat, etc.

In this week’s podcast, I take a look at the cost of clutter and disorganization in our lives.

I think we all know that there is a cost benefit to leading a more organized life, but did you know that it’s not just a financial benefit?

A disorganized and chaotic life can bear many costs… let's look at the different costs that disorganization causes in our lives and the steps that you can take to make a difference.

1. Financial Cost

Buying twice, losing things, items getting ruined, misplacing coupons that eventually expire… I don’t think anyone would argue that there is a not a financial cost benefit to being more organized.

2. Mental Cost

It can be mentally draining trying to remember all of the things that we are responsible for… getting the laundry started, doing the dishes, getting the kids ready for various activities, etc.

We are constantly trying to remember and stay on top of things. The Sunday Basket™ is a HUGE help here. Personally, I like to make notes and jot down ideas all through the week and then go through them all together on a Sunday. I find 50% of the items in my SundayBasket™ are notes to myself.

3. Time Cost

When disorganization creeps into your life, you lose time. You lose time looking for things. You lose time doing things on a whim. You lose time just trying to escape from your cluttered and disorganized situation by watching TV and playing on your phone.

The funny thing is that while you know you are losing time, you don’t have time to figure out where you’re losing it. There is NO TIME! If you had the time, you could do a time study and really get to the bottom of how you can save time, but again… who has time for that?!

I have done a time study twice and it was very depressing seeing the true reality of how much time I spent driving in my car and watching TV.

We have a lot of demands on our time and, if you’re not proactive in how you manage your time, you end up doing things on a whim and putting out fires.

4. Emotional Cost

There was a study that concluded a direct link between families who have more clutter, disorganization, and unfinished projects in their homes with mood and cortisol levels.

Basically, the conclusion is that there are health benefits to being more organized in the household, and the risks of not doing so include depression and a less satisfied marriage.Here is a link to the study.

It’s important to note that there’s no right or wrong when it comes to home organization. Just like there is no perfect weight for a woman, or no perfect way to feed a baby, everyone has a different level of home organization that is right for them and makes them happy.

Irronically, the more progress you make in some areas of organization, the more frustrated you get in other areas. This is completely normal and it just signifies a new level of organization that you expect. You have raised the bar and you now need to stay above that bar for your own peice of mind.

So how do we make the change we want to see? YOU need to take action!

It’s really important to understand that you are in the driver’s seat and the change that you require will not just happen to you, but rather by you. You need to make it happen.

Don’t wait for someone to come rescue you because, believe me (I’ve been there), that will not happen!

There are two things that you need to do to help bring about the change that you want:

1. Change your mindset – Bring about the mental transformation to live a clutter-free, organized life. You are already doing this right now by reading this newsletter and listening to my podcast.

2. Physical change – For this, I have an exercise for you to do!

To do the exercise, you need to listen to the podcast episode and hear me talk you through it.

Trust me. All I will say is listen to the podcast episode when you are at home and have a piece of chalk handy!

P.S. Registration is now open for my 100 Day Home Organization Program where I am with you every step of the journey to help you get your home and your life organized.

Every week, I am there to encourage and motivate you, share stories, and help you reach your goals. You will make fast and lasting progress because of the way the program has been organized.

You will also be with a group of like-minded ladies who are all on the same journey as you, taking action at the same time as one another in the same living spaces.

Let me teach you how to expand your mind. I will show you how to be more productive,more proactive, and how to plan.

You will take back your home and have time to live the life that you are supposed to live.

The 100 Day Home Organization Program is an investment, but it’s an investment in yourself. It will make home organization your new priority. You will start to see a reduction in all of the other costs associated with disorganization and clutter.

Register now! Registration ends on August 28th for the next session starting September 4th.

And for those of you already registered... Congratulations! Please pass this on to ONE person you would love to do the 100 Day Home Organization Program with you!

This week, I thought it would be a great idea to introduce you to one of the 100 Day Home Organization Program members.

Wait until you meet Dawn! We had so much fun recording the episode and giggling like school girls.

Dawn first noticed me in 2015 when she was searching online for help with keeping her house clean. I would LOVE for you to tell me how YOU met me!

Dawn has been using a Sunday Basket™ for about a year, having participated in the Sunday Basket™ virtual workshops, and she joined the 100 Day Home Organization Program in January, 2017.

With 4 school-age kids with ages ranging from 6 to 15, Dawn is definitely in the survival phase of life. :)

I was embarrassed to admit on air that I thought THAT was enough responsibility - the kids & house - and was SHOCKED when I found out she owned an electrical contracting business which she has been running with her husband for 14 years!!

Dawn is responsible for the business bookkeeping and office staff, but her focus, productivity, and ability to even get to the office was derailed when she had her fourth child and couldn't keep up.

Similar to myself, Dawn spends A LOT of time in her car. During the school year, she spends 3.5 hours per day in her car doing the school run for her 4 kids who are at 4 different schools.

Second, she has goats. Lots of goats. I initially thought maybe one or two. Little did I know,she has over 35 goats?!?!

With all this going on in Dawn’s life, is there any wonder she looked for some help with getting her home organized?

Dawn started the 100 Day Home Organization Program in January, 2017.

First time around, Dawn admits she got distracted and didn’t follow along. When she posted about this in the Facebook group, I swiftly moved her to the front of the class and helped her out. For anyone considering joining, know that the 100 Day Home Organization Program is not passive and I WILL make sure you do the work!

Under my guidance and watch, Dawn organized her whole kitchen within 3 days. It went from a disorganized mess to super-organized. She went on to do her master bedroom, making a huge improvement to her house.

The 100 Day Home Organization Program is something that you have access to for life and it is not designed to be done once. No one, myself included, could get through the whole program in one go at it. That is why it’s a lifetime membership.

When Dawn started the 100 day program for the second time, she signed up for the virtual organization package.

In her first call with me, we decided to turn her dining room into her office... and she has never looked back.

Dawn also shares how we worked together to fix her messy breakfast situation in the kitchen and how we sorted out her garage.

If you sign up for the virtual organization package for the upcoming 100 Day Home Organization Program, you will get to work with Monique, Holly, or Emily, who I introduced you to last week.

If you would like to sign up for the 100 Day Home Organization Program, registration for the September 2017 session opened TODAY! Click here.

Check out my Facebook LIVE Friday afternoon to see my new garage shipping station I put together this week to mail out planners to those of you who register!

I had so much fun recording this week’s episode where I introduce you to Holly, Monique, and Emily. They are the teachers who are going to be available to provide extra support to anyone who is going through my 100 Day Home Organization Program .

Holly, Monique, and Emily are professional organizers and have been friends of mine for years. We all started our businesses around the same time and we have the same philosophy when it comes to home organization.

So, it seemed like a great idea to get them on the podcast and let you get to know them…

Introducing Holly

Holly is a traveling home organizer and runs Waco Home Organizers which is based in Waco, Texas. She started her business part-time in 2008 and turned it into her full-time job just last year in 2016.

She spends most of her time traveling around the country helping her clients get organized and works on a relaxed schedule that works well for her and her clients.

Over the last 10 years, she has gone through the accumulation and decluttering stages of life several times.

In 2012, she went through her BIGGEST declutter stage, helping to make her life more mobile and she has never looked back!

Her personal experiences with decluttering have helped her realize that she was holding onto her belongings for comfort that she should be seeking elsewhere.

She now uses her own past experiences and all of her organizational knowledge to help her own clients learn to let go of their belongings and find comfort in God.

Holly has previously helped to moderate my 100 Day Home Organization Program and is fully ready to help program participants change their mindsets about decluttering and get organized!

Introducing Monique

Monique is the founder of Organizing Your Chaos in Valparaiso, Indiana. She started her home organization business in 2013.

With SIX children and a husband at home, she is in the survival phase of her life. Her large family has accumulated A LOT of belongings and she is beginning to do some decluttering of her own.

Her weekly schedule is fairly structured Monday through Friday. And with all of her kids driving themselves to school this year, she has some extra time available to her.

Monique explains in her discussion with me that when she assists a client in their home, the first question she always likes to ask is, “What do you want to use this space for?” By asking this one question, she is able to help change her clients mindset about a room and how to organize it.

Monique has previously been a moderator for my 100 Day Home Organization Program and has gone through my program herself. Having been through the program, she feels that decluttering BOTH of her kitchens had the biggest impact at home.

Monique is enthusiastic about organizing and having fun with her clients and she is looking forward to helping all of you find the FREEDOM you gain when your home is finally organized.

Introducing Emily

Emily’s business is located out of Thompson Station, Tennessee and is called Organizing with Emily . She began her career as a professional home organizer in 2012.

With two small children and a husband, she is in the accumulation stage of her life.

Her typical day is a combination of working on her professional organization business and looking after her home and family.

Emily’s organizing journey started when she was just a kid who enjoyed organizing her play things. She never dreamed it would lead to a career as a professional organizer until she welcomed her first daughter and made the decision to work from home.

Emily's favorite part of her career as an organizer is helping people to transform their lives one space at a time.

This past summer, she participated in my 100 Day Home Organization Program as both an administrator in the Facebook group and a member working on her own home. Her favorite part of the program, like Monique, was making small changes to her already organized kitchen.

Emily feels that one of the most important parts of her job as a home organizer is to help her clients change their perspectives about their belongings. Sometimes people just need an outsider’s opinion to help them make a change.

With two small children at home, she will certainly be an excellent virtual organizer for anyone looking for tips on how to juggle all of those toys!

All three organizers have their own UNIQUE set of skills and experiences to help you on your organization journey.

If you sign up for the virtual organizing support through my 100 Day Home Organization Program, I will send you a survey with some basic questions about your lifestyle, your goals, your availability for calls, and if there is a specific organizer that you’d like to work with.

Then I will play matchmaker!

I’ll match you up with the right virtual organizer for YOU.

Just a reminder, registration for my 100 Day Home Organization Program is August 18-28, September 4th kicks off the start, and to sign up and get on the wait list, please click here .

I am very happy to say that Holly, Monique, and Emily are all VERY excited about helping you in your home organization journey… and, of course, so am I!

Once you register (or if you are already participating in the 100 Day Home Organization Program), you will receive an email about how you can sign up to work with one of these three virtual organizers.

Next week I will be sharing Dawn's experience inside the the 100 Day Home Organization Program.

With the school year right around the corner, I will be spending August teaching you how to get your household ready for the school year.

But first, a big thanks to those of you who followed along as we completed the Back-To-School Blitz last week, getting ourselves and our kids ready for the new school year. I will definitely do it again next year. It was so much fun!

If you missed the Back-To-School Blitz, you can still receive the printables and videos. Simply click here and fill out the form by the end of August, 2017.

This week's podcast episode is about the new Productive Home CEO Planner.

As the CEO of our homes, we have A LOT of responsibilities when it comes to keeping our household running and those responsibilities take... TIME!

The PEW Research Center discovered that the average person spends 28 hours per week taking care of their home.

The good news is that, as the CEO, you can delegate some tasks to others instead of taking them all on yourself. Whether that means hiring outside help, or assigning your family members responsibilities, it doesn’t all need to be done by you. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The new Productive Home CEO Planner includes printables and worksheets to help you create a list of those responsibilities that need to be taken care of. From home to healthcare, I cover it all so that you can understand all the roles you play, give yourself grace, and make a plan to run your house so your house doesn't run you!

I feel like a broken record focusing on the three "new years" I use each year, but dividing your year like this will give you more clarity, focus, and energy to run your home. (I explained this concept in podcast 134.)

Each of these times of year has its own unique set of responsibilities associated with it. As such, I have a different planner for each (3 in total) available through the 100 Day Home Organization Program for you to use.

As you organize your home with the 15 minute daily tasks in the 100 Day Home Organization Program, you will start to notice you have extra space and extra time. The Productive Home CEO Planner helps you focus your new-found time and progress to INCREASE your productivity. :)

Quick note: I know registration for the 100 Day Home Organization Program is closed right now, but get on the wait list. :) Registration will be open August 18-28 and I don't want you to miss it! Your first Productive Home CEO Planner is included in the lifetime membership. And this planner has the WHOLE 100 day program included in printables. Now back to the planner...

The Productive Home Planner

As many of you know, I LOVE paper planners.

There is something about the way our brain processes things when we write them down that is so much more helpful than using a computer or other digital alternatives.

But most planners that you find in stores today are not really planners, in my opinion. They are date books. To truly increase your productivity, you need so much more than that. I’ve been designing this planner for a long time... probably about 18 months.

This planner focuses on planning, goal setting, and productivity for the next four months of your life.

To do that, we start by taking a look at four main areas of your home and life:

Home – Includes any physical tasks that need to be completed around your home from the lint trap on your dryer to steam cleaning your carpets.

Family – Any way you would like to see your family move forward. For example, I am going to try to get my kids to start doing their own laundry.

Self – Personal goals and changes that you would like to see in your own life. Would you like to start reading more? How about spending more time getting involved in your community?

Work – This does not have to be a job that is bringing income. It could be home schooling your children, or the active role you play in your church. Whatever you are devoting your time, energy, and motivation to is considered your work.

Next are the fun "plannery" items in the planner:

Checklists – Daily, weekly, and monthly. The checklists are designed to help you keep track of all the home tasks you need to complete. From doing laundry every week to changing the fire alarm batteries twice a year.

Weekly Calendar – This will help you plan your week ahead on Sundays. It includes space for daily meal planning, your three main goals for each day, and daily fitness goals.

In this week’s podcast episode, I discuss how best to declutter and organize your closet.

I discuss capsule wardrobes, how you can purge too much, and how you can have a variety in your everyday clothing while loving and wearing everything in your closet!

I started this year with three episodes about the importance of decluttering, organizing, and increasing productivity.

In those episodes, I explained that when you reduce the amount of "stuff" you own and get it all organized, your productivity will increase. This will give you LOTS of extra time to focus on what you were meant to do in life.

When I was in high school, my mother taught me some important lessons on how and what to buy when it came to clothes.

Here are the tips she shared with me that I still find helpful today:

"Cost Per Wearing" Analysis – Evaluate the cost of your clothing by how many times you think you will wear it. A $150 coat is worth the investment if you wear it 100 times, bringing the cost of the coat down to $1.50 per wear. Compared to a $15 "bargain" top that you only actually wore once, meaning the cost per wear is $15. The $150 coat was a far more economical investment.

Buy In Outfits – Focus on purchasing items that are interchangeable. By focusing on a specific color scheme or style in mind, it will save you time and stress because everything will match.

What to keep?

Now that you have some ideas for how to shop for new clothes, what should you do with all of your existing clothes that are sitting in your closet?

It’s time for you to decide what needs to stay and what needs to go.

Just recently, I went through my own closet to decide what to keep and what to get rid of.

Here are the rules that helped me when decluttering my own clothes.

Keep clothes that fit you – We all have that one item of clothing we are keeping until we can lose 5 pounds and it will fit once again. It NEEDS to go! You should only keep clothes that fit you and make you feel great. Don’t keep clothes that make you feel like you should change to be able to wear them.

Keep items that match each other – If it doesn’t match anything else in your wardrobe so you have nothing to wear it with, it needs to go. It doesn’t matter how cute or comfortable those shoes are if you are never going to wear them.

No extra purses – Most women do the same with purses… we usually stick to one primary purse yet hold onto our old purses, telling ourselves we might one day need them. This ALMOST NEVER happens! Try to keep your everyday purse, as well as a particular favorite, and get rid of the rest. You really DON’T need them all.

Types of wardrobes to consider...

If you’re looking to try something entirely new when it comes to organizing your wardrobe, there are a couple different options out there for minimizing your closet.

Capsule wardrobe – This type of wardrobe limits you to a certain number of items per capsule (not including your under garments). You set the number to what you would like and you limit your wardrobe capsule to that number. Have capsules for work, seasons, or specific occasions, it’s up to you. You can keep the rest of your clothes, but it takes the stress out of planning your day-to-day outfits.

Uniform wardrobe – Many successful executives such as Steve Jobs, Barrack Obama and Mark Zuckerberg have utilized the uniform wardrobe. Clothes in this kind of wardrobe are all similar and interchangeable. For example, my wardrobe consists of mostly jeans, sweaters, and tops. Jeans match pretty much everything so it is easy for me to buy a large variety of tops to interchange with them.

As parents, our wardrobes often fall to the wayside as we spend all of our time and money making sure that our kids (who are constantly growing) are getting the clothes that they need.

I’m here to tell you that it’s IMPORTANT to update your wardrobe, too. Instead of buying the occasional, random item for yourself on a whim, make a point of finding yourself something nice that matches your wardrobe.

It’s essential for you to look and feel good about yourself, too.

Now that I have shared my ideas for decluttering your wardrobe, I challenge ALL of you to walk into your closet and come out with 15 items that you no longer need or want.

This is a great first step towards getting your closet decluttered.

By following my tips and getting your closet organized, you’ll be able to get dressed quicker, feel better, and get on with living your best life.